Friday, November 28, 2014

A Truffle and Wagyu Thanksgiving

A Truffle and Wagyu Thanksgiving
Fri 11/28/2014, 08:00p-10:30p

You might recall that I went to a truffle dinner at Maude a few weeks back. At the end of that meal, we were each presented with a truffle slicer and a membership to the restaurant's "Truffle Club," which allows members to purchase truffles through the restaurant. One of my dining companions took advantage of that offer, and bought two of the white beauties above for use at a post-Thanksgiving get-together.

Given the abundance of truffle, it was decided that we should start by pairing the delicacy with the sluttiest foods possible. As such, I brought over a Taco Bell Mexican Pizza, a staple of my sad childhood. I got the headiness of the truffle initially, but that quickly dissipated to the classic, comforting flavors of the faux-pizza. We didn't dare try it with the included Fire Sauce, for fear of overwhelming the truffle. That's exactly what happened with the Wienerschnitzel Chili Dog, though. Any semblance of the fungus was summarily obliterated on this one; it ate just like the middle-of-the-road dog it was.

To drink, we started off with something on the lighter side, the Alpine Willy Wheat Ale. There wasn't much to this one, with its sweet, nutty flavors coming awfully close to something you might get from an American macro. Apropos for the fast food, I suppose.

The Del Taco Deluxe Chili Cheddar Fries showed off the best bouquet, with the truffle really making itself known at first. But again, the potency of the chili quickly took over, leaving little trace of the treat. Perhaps the worst pairing was with the McDonald's McRib. The limited-time offering demonstrated no truffle at all, and all we got was a mish-mash of sweet-tangy notes over a base of restructured "pork rib."

My friend also purchased the "Japanese A-5 Wagyu New York Strip Steaks 24 oz. 4-pack" that he'd seen advertised at Costco for a while now. I'm still a bit surprised that Costco's even selling something like this, so I guess we weren't too shocked to discover that the beef was actually sourced Ariane Daguin's longstanding gourmet foods supplier D'Artagnan. As you can see, there was some beautiful marbling going on in the steaks.

As a point of comparison, he also procured four samples of the "Japanese Wagyu Strip Steak - 12oz" from New York butcher DeBragga. Taking a look at the photos, it's clear that the marbling of these Miyazaki-raised specimens was at another, near ridiculous level.

Next up was the 2014 Founders Dirty Bastard, a Scotch style ale that drank pretty true to its style, with plenty of caramel-y malt, roast, and slight bitterness, all in a smooth package.

The DeBragga was the first steak up to the plate, and we commenced with an example done sous vide. Naturally, the meat came out of the immersion circulator cooked, but rather unattractive looking.

As such, we definitely need to finish it in a cast iron pan, with butter, to give it a nice sear.

After shaving some white truffle on top, we dug in. Unfortunately, the experience proved to us that there can indeed be too much of a good thing. The steak came out a gelatinous mass that didn't really eat like beef, but more like pure fat (the thinness of the cut probably didn't help, either). We couldn't even finish the entire thing. If anything's deserving of the moniker unctuous, this would be it.

The seasonally-appropriate 2014 Almanac Heirloom Pumpkin Barleywine was next, comprised of 50% barleywine brewed with pumpkins and aged in rye and brandy barrels as well as 50% fresh ale brewed with spices. In terms of aroma, this one had lots of spice, commingled with roasty pumpkin, while on the palate, you got the same, plus more maltiness and barrel character, along with a lingering fruit sweetness.

As with the example above, the second DeBragga steak was seasoned simply with salt and pepper. However, this one we cooked completely on cast iron, again with butter.

This one turned out quite a bit better, thanks to the far less overwhelming amount of marbling present. There was actually a nice balance here between lean and fat, and texturally the strip was on point as well. Nice earthy accent from the truffle, too

Our lone IPA of the night was the 2014 Figueroa Mountain Lizards Mouth Imperial Double IPA. I found it rather one-note, just super pine-y, super hoppy, without much of the tropical citrus fruit that I like, nor much in terms of a malt counterpoint.

Another attendee prepared some potatoes gratiné and carrots to provide some semblance of balance to the meal.

A brief detour to wine brought us the 2006 Noon Eclipse, a Grenache blend from South Australia. Super intense nose on this one, bursting with loads of earthiness, jam, and spice. Taste-wise, you got more of that, intermingled with some savory, tart nuances as well, the whole thing finishing long. Pretty tasty.

Moving on to the Costco/D'Artagnan steaks now, we began with a cast iron prep, again seasoned with S&P and cooked in butter.

We definitely did this one the rare side, verging on Pittsburgh style with its cold center and crispy crust. I found it quite satisfying though--with a hearty, toothsome beefy quality--and surprisingly well-integrated when it came to the copious amounts of marbling present.

The beer of the night, unsurprisingly, was the 2014 Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Barleywine Ale, which was just picked up earlier in the day during GI's much hyped Black Friday release. Aged in third-use barrels that previously held bourbon and later the brewery's own Bourbon County Stout, this smelled amazing, with boatloads of heady dark fruit goodness joined by notes of the barrel. On the palate, we got wave upon wave of chocolate, molasses, vanilla, and more bourbon character, everything leading to a long-lasting finish brimming with more dark fruit. I actually liked this better than the '13, which was already damn good.

Last up to bat was the Costco stripsteak, this one done sous vide and finished in the pan. It was the winner tonight, with the best, most cohesive presentation of lean and fat, a delicious, delightfully-texture example that wasn't far off from what you'd get at a good steakhouse.

The 2013 Widmer Brothers Barrel-Aged Old Embalmer had a hard time following up the BCBBW, and paled in comparison. Also a barleywine, and aged in pinot noir barrels, it was much thinner, less substantial and less powerful. The nose was light caramel and malt, while there was more to the taste, with the barrel character coming through, alongside an apparent hoppy bitterness.

Dessert also veered toward childhood indulgences and comprised a tub of Rite-Aid/Thrifty Chocolate Malted Krunch, along with white truffle. It was perhaps the best pairing, with the earthiness of the truffle adding a great savory edge to the sweetness of the ice cream. Yum.

Finishing things off was the 2014 Southern Tier Goat Boy, an imperial weizenbock. This one had the classic aromas of banana, caramel, and spice, while in terms of taste, we noted more banana goodness and spice, along with dark fruit, malt, and a distinct bread-y quality.

Lessons learned from tonight (none too surprising): there is such a thing as too much marbling, and there's a damn good reason why you pair fresh white truffle with simple, more delicately flavored dishes like risotto.

Anon: Again, not my call on what was done here. I was just along for the ride and documenting.

Anon: Don't give me the "starving children in Africa" line. Food waste is unfortunate, but is a much bigger problem than we're dealing with here. We ended up eating around 90% of that steak, in any case.

It looks like you had fun experimenting with that beautiful beef. That 4 pack somehow always end up in my costco.com cart but I've never followed through with it. Probably best left to expert hands anyway.

Kevin - it may not be your money but from your post it sounds like it was at least partly your idea... "Given the abundance of truffle, it was decided that we should start by pairing the delicacy with the sluttiest foods possible. As such, I brought over a Taco Bell Mexican Pizza..." so I guess my not enough brains comment still applies. SMH.

Who cares what they used the truffles for. it was their dinner so they decide what ingredients to use. Of course there is better items to pair it with. But what most people don't get is it was for a comical stand point.

Of all the obvious pairing for truffle with slutty foods, I'm surprised you guys didn't do KFC. I think truffles would actually go quite well with that. Maybe next time.

For such an well marbled piece of meat, I agree that cooking some completely on the cast iron was a great approach. The fat needs to break down and melt a bit.

With your supply of truffles and super marbleized wagyu beef, I think slicing the beef thin and doing a shabu shabu would have been a better approach. Then dipping the beef in a truffle sauce. The shabu shabu would melt enough of the fat, and the simplicity would be enough to have the truffle shine.